Agile AL-3000MAP CSB

The Korean-made Agile AL-3000MAP CSB is a Les Paul-styled arch top featuring a 3/4" maple cap over mahogany body, which is then topped off with a 1/16" maple flame veneer. The body and head have tripled white binding and the neck has single white binding. CSB designates a cherry sunburst finish.

The AL-3000MAP CSB features Grover die cast tuners with with an 18-1 turning ratio. The Tune-O-Matic-styled bridge features robust Gotoh parts that offer a fuller range of intonation than do copies of the old ABR-1. The installed nut is bone, and a pre-cut graphite nut is included for those who prefer it.

The neck is 22-fret and 24 3/4" scale. The ebony fretboard isn't particularly black, but more of a dark brown. Trapezoid abalone inlays decorate the fretboard, compared to the cheap plastic used in most guitars. The width of the nut is 1 5/8" -- I find this a bit small. Anyone with large hands may prefer a guitar with the "wide" 1 3/4" nut, instead.

The pickups are good quality Korean Alnico-5 humbuckers.

The bridge pickup is bright-sounding and well articulated, with an especially pleasing sweet ring to them when played clean. There is a significant difference in power and clarity between these Alnico-5 pickups and the ceramic pickups used in less expensive Agile guitars -- something especially noticeable when playing off the bridge pickup.

The neck pickup has the familiar vintage growl without any of the muddiness of cheaper pickups.

With the toggle switch in the middle position, either volume acts as a master volume for the guitar. Some guitarists take issue with this configuration and are quick to change it.

The guitar is not professionally set up at the factory or before shipping. The owner will want to change the strings, adjust the truss rod, set the action and intonation, and adjust the pickups. With this done, the true quality of the guitar becomes apparent. Anyone would have to do the same with most any off-the-shelf guitar.

My truss rod was . . . interesting. The guitar arrived with two much relief, giving it a soft, spongy feeling through the middle of the fretboard. When I tried to tighten the truss rod, I found it was already very tight. In fact, it creaked when I tightened it -- that's a bad sign, and it means STOP. I removed the strings and loosened the truss rod almost completely. While holding the neck in a state of negative relief, I snugged up the truss rod. After putting my strings back on, I had a normal range of relief adjustment and set the neck as straight as possible. It's been fine ever since.

The guitar has minor finish flaws typical of production guitars under several thousands of dollars. These are the sort of things you have to look very hard to find, with one exception. I do take issue with the way the trapezoid inlays are set: Four relief holes are routed, and the trapezoid pattern is routed out between them. After the inlay is set, filler is used to disguise the gaps. Unfortunately, the filler is darker than the fretboard, enough to stand out under close inspection. This may be standard for machined inlays; I would expect laser-etched fretboards to allow for tighter tolerances between inlays and wood. I do not see this same amount of filler used with Agile's block inlays, which fit much tighter.

Some reviewers compare their guitars to tanks, which is pretty silly.

The guitar was shipped to me in a hardshell case, which was itself inside a very heavy box, and it arrived without so much as a loose screw to be found. So I received it in good shape.

The guitar stays in tune well, owing to the Grover tuners and Gotah bridge assembly. Still, proper lubrication of the bone nut is a necessity.

I expect everything to hold up well for many years, with the exception of the pickup selector switch -- it scratches like an angry cat when moved and needs to be replaced. Despite this, I have no real reservations about this guitar; it is as dependable as anything out there. Any professional musician can count on the Agile AL-3000 model night after night.

Rondo Music is generous with customers and apparently willing to satisfy most reasonable expectations. I've not had to have an Agile repaired, so I cannot comment further.

One thing I should mention is that the online Agile catalog doesn't get corrected and adjusted as often as it should.

I own a dozen guitars, and the Agiles are a dependable favorite. Given the price, they're a great investment. The AL-3000 is a guitar any beginner can be proud of and any professional can depend on.

I find Agile guitars offer better features than similar Epiphone models, despite a significant price difference. While both guitars are manufactured in Korea, Epiphones have a greater mark-up. Some guitarists compare Agiles favorably to Gibson Les Pauls, which are obscenely overpriced.

I do wish the trapezoid inlay work was done better. Also, I would like to see a greater variety of finishes available from Rondo -- some finishes come and go quickly, so you have to be quick to snatch up something that catches your eye.

The next step up from this model is the AL-4000, which runs $700 right now. Despite the brand-name Seymour Duncan pickups that model features, I'm not convinced it is as good a value as the AL-3000 or AL-3000MAP. I'm not overly excited by the 3/4" flame cap, either. I would simply want a little more if I was to pay $700 instead of $370 or even $450 for the AL-3000 models.

Regardless, I'm very pleased with the AL-3000MAP. I got a LOT of guitar for the money -- more than I could get from most anyone else. Given the price, it's a fantastic value. Matter of fact, I just ordered an AL-3000 CSB with P-90 pickups. I'm very happy with my Agile guitars.